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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 16, 2024
EEOC Sues Fred Meyer Stores, Inc. for Sexual Harassment
Federal Agency Charges Supermarket Chain Allowed Sexual Harassment to Continue for Years, Despite Multiple Complaints from Female Employees
RICHLAND, Wash. – Fred Meyer Stores, Inc., a subsidiary of national supermarket chain Kroger, violated federal law when it allowed a male employee to sexually harass multiple female employees over a period of years despite repeated complaints about his unlawful behavior, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.
According to the lawsuit, since at least 2017, a male employee at the Richland, Washington, location repeatedly subjected his female coworkers to sexual harassment, including wolf-whistling, leering, and degrading sexual comments about their bodies and appearance, as well as groping one female co-worker in the workplace. He also followed female employees around the store and into the company’s parking lot after their shifts, and attempted to follow one female employee with his car as she left the company’s parking lot. Several female employees complained about harassment by this male employee to their managers and to Fred Meyer’s HR department. Fred Meyer eventually issued warnings to the male employee but permitted him to continue harassing his female coworkers for years, until it finally terminated him in 2021.
Such alleged conduct violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace and requires employers to investigate complaints of sexual harassment and take steps to prevent such harassment. The EEOC filed suit EEOC v. Fred Meyer Stores, Inc., Case No. 4:24-CV-5085) in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.
“The law makes clear that every worker has a right to a workplace free from sexual harassment,” said EEOC Seattle Field Office Director Elizabeth Cannon. “For that reason, once an employee makes a complaint of sexual harassment, employers are required to take prompt, appropriate, and effective measures to make the harassment stop.”
EEOC Senior Trial Attorney Brian Hong said, “Despite multiple complaints from multiple female employees over the course of several years, Fred Meyer inexplicably let a known harasser move from victim to victim without consequences. Employers have a legal duty to keep their employees safe from sexual harassment. The EEOC will make sure these victims are compensated and that Fred Meyer takes steps going forward to ensure that any future sexual harassment of employees is treated with the seriousness that the law requires.”
The EEOC asks anyone who has information or was a visctim of sexual harassment at Fred Meyer to contact the EEOC’s litigation team at (206) 576-3030 or through email: fredmeyer@eeoc.gov.
For more information on sexual harassment, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/sexual-harassment.
The EEOC’s Seattle District Office has jurisdiction over Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska.
The EEOC prevents and remedies unlawful employment discrimination and advances equal opportunity for all. More information is available at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.
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Please contact newsroom@eeoc.gov for media inquiries.
Contact
Elizabeth Cannon, Seattle Field Director (206) 576-3006
Roberta Steele, Regional Attorney (650) 684-0939
Damien Lee, Assistant Regional Attorney (206) 576-3038
Brian Hong, Senior Trial Attorney (206) 576-3044
EEOC Seattle Field Office
909 1st Avenue, Suite 400
Seattle, WA 98104
Office of Communications & Legislative Affairs
131 M Street NE
Washington, DC 20507
newsroom@eeoc.gov
ASL videophone 844-234-5122
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